Food Safety Officer Qualifications, Power, Rank and Role

You might have heard about the new rank of a government officer, called food safety officer, and you started thinking about who is a food safety officer, Food safety officer qualifications, power of food safety officer, the role of food safety officer!

Don’t worry! Being a food safety officer for the last 6 years, I can answer your question best of my knowledge and experience.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Food Safety Officer Qualifications in detail

The qualifications of a food safety officer is decided by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India and the FSS Act 2011.

According to those norms, a food safety officer should have a bachelor’s degree / Master’s degree / Doctorate in any of the subjects given below.

If I see the gazette notification published by the government of India, there a particular line is mentioned that I am quoting here

A Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree or Doctorate degree from a recognized University or institution in the
following disciplines:-

G. KAMALA VARDHANA RAO, Chief Executive Officer, 21 sept – 2023, New Delhi

Here is the screenshot of the Gazet notification published for the Food Safety Officer Qualifications on 21st September 2023

Link to the official Gazet notification published by the Govt. of India

Now I hope you understand the required qualifications of a food safety officer. Although these are the essential qualifications of a food safety officer, there are some other additional qualifications of a food safety officer.

The employment authority would ask you for

1. Any food safety training provided by FSSAI like HACCP training, or Fortification training.
2. Excellent academic records.
3. Any Industrial experience.

Power of Food Safety Officer

Like every other commodity in India, foods are also under a government-regulated standard. These standards are called the Food safety standards.

When we buy a packet of cooking oil (rice bran, mustard oil, etc.), the authorized department has the standard for how much PUFA should be there, how much trans fatty acid will be permitted, how much vitamin E can be added, etc.

According to that Department, if a packet of oil does not meet the standard, that will not be considered cooking oil or will be banned in India.

Now what is that department? Under the Ministry of Health The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India, in short FSSAI regulates everything about food safety in India.

Now, the question is, there are some laws and standards, but who will see whether the standards are followed or not? Then, the Food safety officer comes into the picture.

The food safety officer will check whether the product is as per the said standard or not. If not, the officer will stop the product selling and impose a penalty according to the Food Safety Act.

The Food Safety Act has five sets of officers.

1. Food safety officer.
2.  Designated officer.
3.  Food analyst.
4. Adjudicating Officer.
5.  Commissioner of Food Safety.

A food business operator (the businessman) and the consumers directly interact with the food safety officer.

What is the power of food safety officer?

1. Food safety officers can enter any premises where any food or raw material for foods is being stored, processed, packaged, or showcased. The officer does not need any special permission.
2.  The food safety officer can inspect any premises where food is being handled. He does not need to give any prior information to the food business operator (the shopkeeper or manager)
3.  Food safety officers can draw the sample from any premises under their jurisdiction. Those food samples could be sent to the food testing labs for testing.
4.  If the sample is found to be not within the standards, the case can be sent to the adjudicating officer. Punishment could be imposed if the adjudicating officer found the food business operator guilty.
5.  Food safety officers can issue food safety registration and licenses for a particular premises.
6.  Food safety officers can raid or cease premises found to work with harmful food materials.
7. When we are discussing the power of food safety officers, we can’t miss the fact that they are the Group A Gazetted officers. So, they enjoy all the powers of a group A gazetted officer. They have the attestation power.

Role of a Food Safety Officer in India | Job profile of food safety officer

India is well known for its cheap price and varity of tasty foods. But cheap food can only provide cheap quality. That’s the problem India is suffering for its food. Here, the need for a food safety officer comes into the picture.

After observing the food safety officer qualifications, you must have understood that they are highly educated and sound at laboratory assessment analysis.

When no food safety officers were recruited in India, police used to draw the food samples and send them to the laboratory. Many police officers were there who did not have any food safety knowledge and they only took the sample to scare the businessman. All these scenarios create illegal activities.

To stop those non-professional duties, the government of India introduced the food safety department aligned with the Food and Drug Administration, USA.

1. The primary role of a food safety officer is not to punish food handlers but to teach the food handlers the correct way of practicing food safety.
2. India is not the USA, that’s why many people buy their raw foods or cooked food from ” thela wala”. Teaching food safety to those petty food business operators is not easy. Here the challenges come to FSO.
3. Food safety officers randomly collect food samples for assessment and see whether the quality is as per the FSS Act. They also check whether there is any adulteration, contamination, etc.
4. Indian food safety officers go to open markets or mela to see whether the food handlers maintain the safety protocols.
5. If there is any food poisoning or outbreak, the FSO collects the samples immediately and sends them to the laboratory within 24 hours.

I hope you understand the Food Safety Officer Qualifications, Power, Rank and Role. Food safety officer are the food police in other word.

FAQs

What are the duties of a food safety officer?

In simple words I can say that the duties of a food safety officer is drawing food samples randomly, inspecting premises with any food, start legal process if any sample found to be nonstandard, providing FSSAI registration and Licenses for food businesses.